Detailed Information:
The goal of the environmental studies program is to enhance society's ability to create an environmentally acceptable future. Program faculty with diverse backgrounds in the social and natural sciences and in the humanities are committed to developing interdisciplinary approaches to environmental problem solving. The primary objective is to educatecitizens and professionals who are aware of environmental issues and their origins, causes, effects, and resolutions. The curriculum is designed for students to gain an understanding of ways to balance social and economic needs with environmental realities, to learn how to use resources imaginatively for sustained yields, and to become aware of the role of values in issue formulation and policy making. Objectives to be reached are (1) understanding key environmental problems; (2) enhanced awareness of human dependence on the environment; (3) knowledge of historical roots of environmental problems and impact of human activities over time; (4) skill in stating issues in environmental policies and actions;(5) basic literacy in the natural and social sciences and the humanities as they contribute to an understanding of environmental affairs; and (6) ability to evaluate short- and long-term solutions to environmental problems.